A community and school are in shock over the death of one of their most respected athletes.

"Anything you asked him, he worked hard. He worked hard, he worked extremely hard,” said Gene Hudson, Belhaven's recruiting coordinator. “He was just trying to live his dream."

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Police say Trey Rich was riding his bike home from work Wednesday night down old Highway 49 when a pickup truck crashed into him.

"The young man was a hard-working student at Belhaven, was just getting off work at FedEx, and apparently was getting back to his dorm at Belhaven, when he was struck and killed," says Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey.

Bailey said the driver of the vehicle, 29-year old Reginald Davis, has a lengthy rap sheet and admitted that he was drinking.

Davis has been arrested 12 times, with charges ranging from possession of cocaine, auto burglary and grand larceny.

The sheriff says he will submit blood tests to the the state crime lab Monday.

Davis was released from the hospital on Saturday.

"He swerved. Whether to get the pedestrian off of the vehicle, lost control, and went into a ditch. And once he went into a ditch, he went airborne for just a small amount of time. And struck a parked 18-wheeler," said Rankin County Deputy Sheriff Tyson Burleson.

Investigators are still trying to figure out how fast the pickup truck was going.

Ken Wallace, a service director at Old River Volvo said the damage to the semitrailer will cost about $20,000, but his concern is with the victim and his family.

"Just to realize it could all end at a split second due to someone else's mistake, not your own,” Wallace said. “It really opens your eyes.”

For coach Hudson and the Blazers, they’re still trying to process the loss.

"He was definitely a kid that the younger ones looked up to, cause he always did everything right. He always did what he was supposed to in the classroom and off the field,” Hudson said. “And like he said, he's just a kid that you hate it for him, you hate it for his family because he has so much potential.”

He said the team plans to honor Rich when students get back from Christmas break.